Nice Wikipedia cut and paste.JackM wrote:bayouhazard wrote:Vigilantes go after a person after the fact. The MSM has worked hard to twist the truth, but killing a VCA in the act is not vigilantism.
Setting an ambush for criminals may be unsportsmanlike, in the same fashion as police hiding to catch speeders, but neither is vigilante action.
Exactly. A vigilante is someone who illegally punishes someone for perceived offenses, or participates in a group which metes out extralegal punishment to such a person. Often the victims are criminals in the legal sense, however a vigilante may follow a different definition of criminal than the local law. Nothing is illegal about defending yourself once criminals feel that they have an easy strike.
On the T.V. show, cops fake an arrest of the Cadillac driver, then drive off with the Cadillac unlocked and keys in it, along with a lap top or X-Box inside to entice them further.
In America, you are free to dress up as a little old lady, go to an ATM and withdraw a few hundred $$ in a bad neighborhood late at night, stand there and wave it counting loudly $20, $40, $60, $80.... Then who shows up but the vermin who feel they have a right to take advantage of the weak/stupid while you pull out a 50 cal. out of the purse? If these vermin wanted to live, they would pick another business to be in. This is the reason crime goes down in areas of the nation with concealed carry. They're not sure what they are up against. Is it wrong to make them think that you are weak and stupid? When I drive around in the Prius, people wrongly think I am a weak tree hugger. I prefer not to give them a heads up with any NRA stickers either.
After all, isn't the situation exactly the same with any concealed gun carrier? We hope it NEVER happens, but inevitably, somebody feels that they can take advantage of you in some particular way for some particular reason since they have a knife or gun. Anyone could wrongly say that you are a vigilante since the criminal didn't know he didn't have the upper hand. This is why I don't like open carry, the element of surprise. They NEVER expect you to also have a gun, pull it out and defend yourself because you felt that your life was in danger. If you just fire a warning shot as another thread addressed, then the BG is attacking someone else within the hour, so do us all a favor...2 center shots, one head shot.
No matter, 'sting operations' are for law enforcement. CHL's are NOT law enforcement. Purposely putting yourself in a situation to try and lure someone into a fight would not only be foolish, it is down right dangerous and borders on illegal IMO.
If anything like that did transpire, I think you would have a major problem trying to prove it was justifiable defense and you were not out just trying to hunt someone down that may or may not have been engaged in illegal activity.
That wold be a total disaster when it hit court that you were out looking for trouble. Vigilatisim is NOT what having a CHL and carrying a gun is about. It is about being able to protect yourself when situations arise and you need to fight for your life, not fights you go looking for.